


Little Flying Tiger

by Amelita



Category: Finder no Hyouteki | Finder Series, Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - 1910s, Alternate Universe - Geisha, Arranged Marriage, Child Akihito, Coming of Age, Courtesans, Geisha, Jealousy, Kyoto, Love at First Sight, M/M, Mistresses, Mizuage, Older Asami, Older Man/Younger Man, Rivalry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-03
Updated: 2015-11-03
Packaged: 2018-04-28 15:46:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5096240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amelita/pseuds/Amelita
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not a bird and not a fish, but something in between.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little Flying Tiger

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Polski available: [Mały, latający tygrys](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5688991) by [Lilah02](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilah02/pseuds/Lilah02)



_  
_

_November 12th 1914_

 

The tiny boy squeezed his knees close to his body as he tucked himself into the straw box used for storing firewood. He giggled to himself because while he could see out through the loosely woven fibers, but no one would know he was there. Everyone was so busy, too busy to notice the little boy with the wide blue eyes that watched the hussle and bussle with curiosity. Normally Akihito was kept busy with odd tasks, airing the futons, cleaning the rooms, drying the dishes, feeding the chickens, stoking the fires and any time he had even a free moment to himself, the others would be upon him , chastising him for his laziness and finding him more work because ‘Idle hands are the devil’s workshop!’

But today, today the others were too busy for even that. The little boy was told to ‘stay out of sight’ and was left to his own devices.

Someone important was going to visit the okiya this evening. The women had been preparing all week, cleaning and cooking and scrubbing the wooden floors until they shined. Akihito knew it had something to do with his sister and her ‘mizuage’. Akihito didn’t know what that was and everyone ignored him when he asked, but he knew it had been sold and for the most money anyone had ever paid. The man who had purchased it was coming tonight to collect it. Also sometime tonight his sister would no longer be a maiko, an apprentice geisha, but would become a full-fledged geisha. He wondered how she was going to do that and what it had to do with the man that was coming. His sister was in the other room making herself beautiful, her long black hair was being woven in an elaborate hairstyle, her face painted white, her lips crimson. She would be dressed in a fancy kimono and wear funny wooden shoes. Personally Akihito though she was far more beautiful as herself, with her peachy pink skin, rosy lips and dressed in her simplest robes, but he was her brother and his opinion didn’t count, or so he had been told. Akihito loved his big sister and admired her endlessly, though at times she hardly seemed to notice he was there. She, like most beautiful teenage girls, tended to be rather self absorbed.

Akihito didn’t notice that. She was all he had in the world. He knew he had other brothers and sisters somewhere, but he hardly remembered them. Auntie said that his father was a drunk and his mother was a fool and that resulted in far more mouths than they could feed. Auntie was his mother’s sister and said she only took Akihito because that was part of the deal to get his beautiful older sister Akemi. ‘What use is a boy in a geisha house?’ she would say, throwing her hands up in despair but Akihito thought that he was very useful indeed. He was the only one willing to get the lizards when they climbed into the girls’ futons.

He sat in the large box for a long time as the servants preened and fussed over his sister in the room next door. He could hear her calling for this brooch or that pin and these flowers for her hair. It was warm in the straw box and the little boy was very tired and he quickly fell asleep.

He awoke later to the sound of his sister’s giggling. Her voice was high-pitched and silly sounding. He recognized it as the voice she used when she spoke to men. He wondered why she did that. There was a man sitting near her, half-reclining on a futon with a drink in his hand while his sister knelt before him pouring sake. While her kimono was pale pink and covered with floral embroidery, his was plain black. His feet were bare. The room was dimly lit by soft-glowing lanterns. Akihito sat up a little taller and crouched towards the front of the box so he could get a better look at his face. He was a very, very handsome man with unusual amber eyes and a strong jaw. He was much, much larger than Akihito’s sister. To Akihito, even lying down, he seemed like a giant.

With one large hand, he pulled Akihito’s sister down on top of him as she struggled weakly, pleading, “No, no, no, Chairman, no!”

Aki frowned and worried his lower lip with his teeth, unsure of what to do. She continued to plead coyly with him as his hands loosened her robe and began to pull it open, but didn’t seem to be fighting very hard. The man kissed her neck and murmured words to her in a deep soothing voice as he pushed Akemi to her back. The boy in the box was on high alert. He wasn’t sure what was going on but if his sister was in trouble, he was determined to protect her.

She lay beneath the man, looking small and frightened as he untied the last of her under robes and bared her pale skin to his hot gaze. Her painted red lips trembled. His dark head lowered but he didn’t kiss them. Akihito breathed a sigh of relief at that. He knew Akemi didn’t like it when her make-up got messed up. The man peppered kisses over her neck and chest bumps and down her belly. His hands were on her legs pressing them apart. She squirmed and her breathing got faster. Akihito wondered if he was tickling her stomach when suddenly she cried out, “Oh no! Chairman Asami, you mustn’t!”

The man chuckled darkly, “Oh, mustn’t I? You will lay back my sweet little geisha and let me serve you on this night.”

His head dropped back down, but lower this time, between her legs. Her blue eyes went wide , her red mouth opened and she screamed bloody murder. It sounded like he was killing her! Akihito decided the man must be biting her, biting her between her legs!!

The tiny boy jumped from his hiding place and grabbed the small thatched broom used for sweeping the ashes from the fireplace. Like a vengeful demon, he sprang on the man atop his sister and beat him about the head and shoulders with it as thistles rained down around them.

He hollered at the top of his lungs, “You get off my sister!! You big meanie! You get off of her!!!”

The man flung his hands over his head to protect himself from the onslaught as his sister screamed and closed her legs, scrambling away. She barely had time to cover herself before Auntie and the others were charging in to see what Akihito was yelling about. At this point the little boy had thrown his tiny arms about the man’s neck from behind and was actively trying to throttle him. His sister was wailing. Auntie’s face was horrified as she dragged the kicking, screaming boy off his unsuspecting victim.

“Akihito! Oh my God! Akihito you stop this right now! Do you even realize what you’ve done?!!”

His sister was weeping and her makeup was running all over her pretty face and it slowly dawned on the boy that he might, _possibly_ have made a mistake.

One of the other servants dragged him from the room as Auntie prostrated herself on the floor before the man, palms flat on the floor, begging his forgiveness. Akihito looked back in terrified confusion and the man’s eyes followed him intently.

The servant’s eyes were alight with anger as she threw Akihito outside into the cold and picked up a hickory switch, “You little brat! You’ve ruined us!! All that money and he’s going to want it back now! We’ll be laughingstock of every okiya in the district! Oh the shame you have brought on our heads tonight! We’ll end up on the streets and your sister? You’ve ruined her! Humiliated her! Who’s going to want to buy her mizuage now? How will she pay back her debt to the house?”

The tiny boy shook his head. His wide frightened eyes were filled with innocent confusion. He didn’t understand, he didn’t - he screamed as she threw him on his stomach, pulled up the hem of his kimono and began to beat his bare legs and bottom with the cruel switch. Red welts rose immediately on his pale skin, but she only got in a few hits before the switch was grabbed from her hand.

A deep masculine voice boomed, “What is the meaning of this?!”

The servant immediately dropped to her knees, her face bowed low to his feet, “My humblest apologies Asami-sama. I was punishing this impudent boy for daring to assault your honorable person and-”

He cut her off, “I think that would be my job, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes Asami-sama, of course sir.”

“Leave us.”

His voice was filled with authority and the frightened woman didn’t hesitate to obey, fleeing back into the okiya. The night was dark and quiet, the sounds muffled by the slowly falling snow. Akihito sniffled quietly as his thin tattered kimono was pulled back over his bare bottom and smoothed over his legs. The man picked him up gently and sat down on a wooden bench with him on his knees, his broad hand supporting his thin back. Akihito looked up at him. His amber eyes were filled with warmth and kindness and suddenly the little boy felt even worse for what he had done. Akihito’s sniffles turned into full blown sobbing. His nose ran, tears poured down his cheeks and he wailed mournfully.

The man they called Asami-sama laughed as he petted his soft fluffy blond hair, “Well surely its not as bad as all that is it?”

His sobs turned into pants and Akihito tried to vocalize his distress. Tears gathered in his long lashes. He stammered, “I- I- I hit you!”

He grinned, “Yes, you did. And you pack quite a wallop too, came at me like a little flying tiger you did.”

Large plump tears gathered in the boy’s crystal blue eyes and fell over onto petal pink cheeks. the man wiped at them with a soft, silk handkerchief and then held it up to Akihito’s runny nose and instructed him to blow. Akihito did as he asked and the noisy, inelegant honking made Asami laugh again. His amber eyes twinkled, “There now, better?”

The little boy shook his head miserably, fumbling with the handkerchief in his hands. It was dark blue with the initials AR embroidered on the corner.

“No? What would make it better then?”

“I have to say I’m sorry.”

Aki moved to slip off his lap and kneel down in the snow. Asami shook his head and held him tight, “Oh no you don’t. I know why you did what you did. You were trying to protect Akemi, weren’t you?”

Akihito nodded his head.

“You thought I was hurting her?”

“Not supposed to hurt girls. Supposed to protect them,” Akihito said with serious conviction, even as he snuggled closed into the man’s arms to steal from the warmth of his massive chest.

“Yes that’s true, but I wasn’t hurting her, not really.”

The boy blinked curiously up at the older man, “Then what were you doing to her?”

He smirked, “Perhaps I will show you someday, when you are older.”

That wasn’t good enough for Akihito, “But I want you to show me now!”

A dark brow arched in good humor, “Oh I’m sure you do little tiger, but if I have to be patient and wait until you are older, then so do you.”

Akihito frowned at his nonsensical answer. Asami-sama smiled kindly at him and stood, gathering the small boy onto his hip and carrying him back inside like a little monkey. The women inside stared at him with wide solemn eyes. Akemi’s makeup had been fixed though her hair was still askew and her unusual blue eyes were red-rimmed and watery. They were the mirror-image of Akihito’s. Asami looked back and forth between them for a moment. His voice boomed in the silent okiya, “How about something to eat?”

The women rushed to do his bidding, throwing sharp sideways glances at Akihito. He knew he was still in big trouble. The boy’s thin arms snaked fearfully around Asami’s neck, clinging to his protector for dear life because he knew the moment the man put him down he was going to get it and good. Asami laughed and sat while the women bobbed around him and served him sake. Akemi sat close at his side, but Akihito stayed tucked in to his lap, safe under his arm. Akihito watched as delicious meats and steaming rice and noodles were brought out and placed in front of the guest but he knew they weren’t for him. He had tried to eat one of the cook’s pork dumplings once and gotten his palm spanked by the cook.

Asami immediately noticed where Akihito’s eyes had fallen and he brought the dumplings in closer by crooking his finger on the rim of the bowl. He dipped one into the sweet sauce and held it up. His eyes met Akihito’s and he smiled, “Now, you can have this one and as many as you can eat, but you have to give me a smile, can you do that?”

Akihito's sweet angelic face immediately broke into a wide radiant smile. His little baby teeth shined white and pearly and just a little bit gappy. He had dimples in each of his round cheeks. Asami cuddled him close and gave him his reward, “Thats my boy. Eat up.”

He dandled the tiny child on his knee while Akihito busily ate his weight in sweet pork dumplings.

He spoke softly to Akemi, “He’s your brother isn’t he?”

She dropped her head in shame, “Yes.”

“You are lucky.”

Her head popped back up in confusion and he clarified, “To have such a devoted protector. He obviously loves you very much. Has his hair always been like that?”

The sudden change in subject startled her but she recovered her poise quickly, “Yes Chairman Asami. My mother was afraid he was going to be bald. All the rest of us were born with thick dark hair on the tops of our heads but when Akihito was a baby, he had no hair at all. When it finally came in, it was white as snow.”

“And his eyes are like rain.” The older man feathered his fingers through the soft strands thoughtfully, admiring the way they shined in the lamplight, “I’ve never seen hair this color before, except on a foreigner, but he’s full blooded Japanese isn’t he?”

She nodded again. Auntie spoke up, “Too much water in his personality. Turned his hair white and his eyes blue. He’s restless, always impatient, always in a hurry. Too much water.”

The older woman shook her head sadly and Akihito shrank from the censure in her voice. Asami spoke softly in his defense, “For all its flaws, water is strong, strongest of all the elements, it can conquer fire or carve its way through stone. It cannot be trapped. It is indomitable.”

Auntie bowed her head humbly and Akihito stared up at him in adoration for no one had ever said anything like that to him and Asami kissed his pretty brow, “I think its time for bed for this one.”

One of the servants came forward to take Akihito from Asami. The older man seemed reluctant to hand him over. He looked sternly at her, “No more scolding. No more punishments. The child is innocent. He made a mistake, with the best of intentions and there was no harm done. I do not blame the okiya, I am not going to ask for my money to be returned and only those of us in this room will ever know what happened on this night.”

There was an almost palpable easing of the tension among the women. He kissed Akemi’s painted cheek fondly, “And you and I will have another date, I promise, far away from prying eyes next time.”

She tittered cutely and Akihito frowned jealously, his plump lower lip jutting out in a pout as she stole the Chairman’s attention away from him. Asami chuckled and his deep chest rumbled, “One for my little flying tiger then as well.” The boy beamed as Asami kissed his cheek too and then allowed himself to be taken off to bed.

He laid on his futon for a long time thinking about the man’s kindness. No one had ever shown him such kindness before, not even his mother, and it made something in his chest hurt. He pressed the handkerchief against it, the silk fabric wadded in his small, plump hand. He was just drifting off when he heard Asami’s voice again. The little boy sat up and then padded over to press his ear against the wall. The walls of the okiya were very, very thin and on the other side was Auntie’s room. Akihito slept in the room beside hers so that she could call for him in the night if she needed him, to have him bring her water or tea or medicine. Auntie never slept well.

He peered through the door. They were sitting at her desk, talking in low voices but Akihito could still hear them.

“I want to know what your plans are for the boy, once he gets older. This is a geisha house. There can be no men here. Your girls would be ruined if word got out, their mizuages worthless. He’s a child now, easily mistaken for a girl, but in a few years, people will start talking.”

The Auntie was silent, pouring his tea and his eyes narrowed with realization, “You were planning to sell him weren’t you? Once he was old enough to work in a brothel.”

Akihito’s eyes widened in fright. He didn’t know exactly what a brothel was but knew all the girls in the house were afraid of ending up in one. He knew he didn’t want to go there. Auntie’s voice was defensive, “He’s beautiful, that boy. I was counting on the money from the sale to offset the cost of raising him for the past few years.”

Asami scoffed, “I’m sure you’ve already gotten more than what you paid for the boy back in labor alone already, but you are right about one thing. He is beautiful, extraordinarily so. I thought his sister was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen but one day Akihito will put her to shame.”

Auntie sighed sadly, shaking her head, “Such a waste. Its truly a pity he’s a boy or I would already be training him to become a geisha.”

“There is a house here in Kyoto that will take him and train him as one.”

Akihito could hear Auntie’s shocked gasp even as he stifled his own with his hand. He could be a geisha? Wear pretty dresses and eat sweet meats and serve sake to important men like Asami-sama? His small ears perked up.

Amber eyes smirked, “Come now, don’t play so naive. Surely you have heard of men that prefer the company of other men. It cannot surprise you to know that a specialty okiya has arisen to cater to such tastes.”

She fumbled with her tea, “I cannot, I did not…. are you suggesting I sell Akihito to them instead?”

“No, I want you to sell him to me and then I, as his legal guardian, will personally oversee his training from there.”

“He’s too young, only five summers.”

“Not too young to learn. You said it yourself that you would already be training him if he were a girl.”

She bit her lip in hesitation and Asami’s eyes darkened, “Now you are wondering how much you can get for him if you go straight to them.”

His eyes were hard and Akihito was suddenly afraid of the ruthless intent on his face. He looked scary. All hint of kindness had fled. He leaned forward, his jaw firm, “Do not forget who you are dealing with. I can ruin you with the flick of my fingers. If I wanted to take Akihito from you without a penny, I could do it and no one in this city, or this country would stop me. Paying you is but a courtesy on my part.”

“Asami-sama, please I mean no disrespect. Of course, Akihito is yours, I would never consider-”

He cut her groveling off, “Your price madam.”

“8000 yen.”

Akihito blinked. It was more money than he could even comprehend. Akihito had but two yen tucked away in the folds of his futon and how he had scraped and saved just for those. A dark brow arched, “A shark wearing lipstick. Thats more than I paid for his sister’s mizuage, but I won’t disgrace him by haggling over him like a pig. He’s worth that now and will be far more, by the time I’m done with him. You have a deal ma’am. I will come for him in the morning. Send nothing with him but the clothes on his back.”

She bowed low and the man pushed back from his chair and looked over at the crack in the wall through which Akihito was peeking and winked at it. Akihito’s face went scarlet with embarrassment as he realized Asami had known he was listening the entire time. His little heart pattered with excitement as he realized he would be going away with Asami in the morning. His small hand reached for the handkerchief he had put in his pocket and he traced the initials with the tip of his fingers.

Sleep was a long time coming.

In the morning, he was scrubbed until his pale skin shone pink. His hair was neatly combed and he was dressed in his best. Well it wasn’t his best. It was his sister’s from when she had been sent to live at the okiya. Akihito’s best were little more than rags but Auntie dressed him in Akemi’s old blue kimono and stated that he couldn’t go out in public like that and let everyone think the Nitta Okiya was too poor to dress him properly. His sister cried and so did Akihito and he promised to visit her as soon as he could.

It was a promise he would not be able to keep for a very long time. Akihito did not realize then, but for all the benefits of beginning his training as a geisha, his days of freedom and roaming the streets of Kyoto as he pleased were gone forever.

The little boy was shy as he sat across from the large businessman in the carriage. He kept his eyes down and twisted the hem of his blue sleeves in his lap. Asami seemed like a different man from the night before. He wore shiny shoes and was dressed in a three-piece western suit. It was very intimidating to the little boy. Akihito had seen men dressed like that before and knew they were important people who were to be treated with utmost respect. He wanted to suck his thumb like he still did sometimes when he was alone, but he didn’t want to shame himself.

Asami leaned forward and tipped Akihito’s delicate chin up so he was forced to meet his gaze. He examined his face most seriously, “Where is my little flying tiger from last night? Did they give me the wrong boy? Are you sure you are Takaba Akihito?”

He nodded exuberantly, but with worry in his blue eyes for he did not wish to be sent back, “Yes, its me! I hit you with a broom last night remember?” Akihito immediately winced and wished he could take back the embarrassing reminder.

Asami only laughed at his blush, “So you did.” He propped his elbows on his knees and bent his head so it was closer to Akihito’s, “Now I know you were listening in on us last night so I know you know where you are going.”

Blue eyes snapped up eagerly, “I’m going to be a geisha!”

“Yes you are. Do you know what a geisha is Akihito?”

The little boy nibbled his plump full lower lip before answering, “Its where you paint your face and wear pretty kimonos and go to lots of parties and eat delicious food.”

“Yes, it is those things, but its more than that. To be a geisha, is to be a beautiful, living work of art. Not only to be beautiful to look on, which you already are, but to create beauty with everything you do. You will learn to sing and play the shamisen, you will dance and how to turn every move you make into a thing of grace and beauty so that you will give great pleasure to all who look on you. ”

“Even you?”

“Oh, especially me. You see, all men have a weakness for beautiful things Akihito, and I am no exception. The richer and more powerful a man is, the more obligations he has, the more he seeks to find relief from them. Like most men of my status, I am the victim of an arranged marriage. Though I have great affection for my wife, there are things such as love and companionship, that simply cannot be found in a marriage made for the sake of political advancement and monetary gain. It is for those things, men like me seek the company of the geisha. Do you understand?”

The little boy really didn't but he nodded anyway, “I think so.”

Asami sighed even as he smiled kindly, “This is perhaps over your head little one. All I need you to do is work very hard, can you do that for me?”

Akihito felt that he could do anything this man asked of him, fly even, if he wished. The boy nodded eagerly, “Yes sir, I can do that. I’ll be the best geisha ever, I promise!”

Asami nipped Akihito’s pert button nose with his fingers, “You will certainly be the most beautiful my little tiger. Come now and I’ll show you your new home.”

The boy’s eyes went big as he stepped out of the carriage and in through the gates of his new home. The gates opened into a stunning garden full of orchids. Come in off the dirty Kyoto streets, it like stepping into another world. It was called the Palace of Hidden Flowers and there was no okiya more secretive, for it had many, many secrets to keep. Even its location was a mystery known only to a few and the geisha who lived there left rarely except under cover of night. Akihito would not learn all of that until later. Asami was greeted by a beautiful woman in a green silk kimono. Her face was unpainted but lovely and her long hair was carefully styled and adorned with flowers. Though the bones of her face was angular for a woman, she was still very beautiful and very, very tall.

She bowed low to Asami, “Hai Chairman Asami, this humble person welcomes you to her home. Is this the boy you told me about last night?”

Her exotic green eyes appraised Akihito sharply. The boy immediately hid behind Asami’s legs and Asami’s booming laugh filled the courtyard, “He had a lot more spunk last night. Nearly gave me a concussion. Step out here Akihito and show Long-mu those bold beautiful eyes of yours.”

Obediently, the small boy stepped out in view and lifted his chin so the woman could see his eyes. She gasped and then leaned down and took hold of his face, moving it side to side so she could admire them, “They are stunning. Just like his sister’s but even more so with those impossibly long lashes. And that creamy skin and his hair.... why, his coloring is _exquisite_. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Nor have I. The moment I saw him, I thought to myself that he was the most stunning creature I had ever seen, except perhaps your lovely self.”

She hissed with her teeth, “Pssh, you flattering snake. This boy will be far more beautiful in his prime than I could have ever hoped of being. He may even surpass Fei Long, though God save us all, don’t tell him that.”

“And how is your lovely son?”

“Come and see for yourself.”

She escorted them through a large set of painted double doors and into the most beautiful room Akihito had ever seen in his life. There were flowers and orchids everywhere. Across the wall was a mural with cranes so lifelike he felt they might fly away if he startled them. His gaze drifted around the room until it settled on a girl who had appeared it seemed almost from thin air. She was dressed in an emerald green kimono, just like the older woman, but with her long silken hair tied back a green ribbon instead of piled on top of her head. He gaped at her as she bowed low and gracefully, “Good morning Asami-san.”

Akihito could tell they were almost the same age but the girl moved with a grace and poise of one far older. Asami bowed back to her indulgently, “Good day Fei Long. You grow lovelier by the minute.”

The name was a male one. Akihito gasped as he realized the girl with the exquisite green eyes was actually a boy.

Asami patted Akihito’s hand and released it, “Fei Long, I am counting on you to take care of Akihito for me. You’ll watch out for him, won’t you my beautiful Dragon?”

Fei Long bowed again with a delicate sweep of his kimono, a flash of his bare wrist and an eyelash flutter that was somehow both demure and flirtatious, “For you Asami-sama, anything.”

The older man tugged his earlobe affectionately, “Little minx, you think you are older than you are. Run along now and help Akihito get acquainted with his new home.”

Fei Long bowed again and swept Akihito along behind him. Akihito’s blue eyes looked longingly back at Asami and he smiled when Asami winked at him. Fei Long was taller than him and he wore tall shoes so he seemed even taller. Akihito had to look up quite a bit to look him in the eyes. “My name is Akihito,” he said.

He was trying to be friendly but Fei Long was not interested. He waved a perfectly manicured hand and hushed the smaller boy, “Ssssh! I want to hear what they are saying!”

He sat on a bench beneath the window, bowing his dark head so he stayed out of sight and Akihito did the same. He could hear Asami’s voice inside.

“....I will pay all of his expenses, and make his training well worth your while Long-Mu.”

“We already have six experienced geisha and four novices in this tiny okiya. Asami-san, I don’t even know where he will sleep yet!”

“2000 yen per month Long-Mu.”

“Asami-san that is most generous, but I….”

“4000 and I will buy you a new kimono beautiful one.”

There was a slight hesitation and then Long Mu spoke, “I will take him.”

“Akihito is an uncut diamond, only lacking in polish. He will be a great asset to you.”

“I will make certain of it.”

“I know you will and that is why I brought him to you. I have but one request.”

“Oh?”

“I do not wish to see him beaten, or slapped or abused physically in any way. I know that physical punishment is a part of your training but I ask you to be more creative than that with his. A carrot will get you farther with him than a stick. Food I think will be a great motivator, and treats. Akihito requires a gentle hand. A person is a material thing, easily torn, not easily mended. His wild spirit is a great part of his beauty to me, and I do not wish to see it crushed.”

Long-mu was perceptive and easily saw the meaning hidden in his words, “This one is for you Asami-sama?”

“Perhaps. Time will tell.”

Akihito’s heart leapt in his throat at the thought and hope welled in his chest. A pride he had never felt before washed over him. Asami saw something in _him_ , something with promise, something desirable, something…. beautiful. In that moment, he changed from a child with no future to someone with purpose. To Akihito, a man like Asami seemed as far out of reach as a bird to a fish, but the boy saw suddenly that to be a geisha was not just about pretty dresses, rich food and dancing but rather about obtaining a place at his side. Never had he wanted anything so much.

He drew a breath in and his eyes lit up. As if reading his mind, Fei Long sneered at him, “He won’t choose you. Not when he can have me. It would be like choosing a Rat over a Dragon”

Akihito blinked in surprise at the unexpected cruelty, “Why would you say something so mean?”

The other boy looked at him snootily, “Because we are rivals, you and I. I am going to be the most famous geisha in all the world and you will be nothing but a dog nipping at my heels. Why should I be nice to you?”

“Why shouldn’t you?” Akihito answered honestly.

Fei Long sighed in disgust and threw up his hands. Akihito didn’t know where to go and so he went back around to the front of the garden and waited for the Chairman to come out again. He folded his hands and watched birds fly overhead and the fish swim circles in the Koi pond. Around and around and around they went, trapped by their circumstances. Akihito looked up and saw the apprentice maikos dancing through the open windows. They looked like fish too, colorful and bright, and yet their long sleeves and the way they moved their pale arms reminded him of birds in flight. They were not birds and they were not fish, but something in between, on their way up. He was at the bottom, but he was on his way up now too.

Finally the doors of the okiya opened and the Chairman stepped out, followed by Long-mu and Fei Long. There was a broad smile on his face and an easy confidence in his step that lent strength to Akihito, even though the little boy still felt painfully shy around all of these beautiful, important people.

He bowed low when Asami came near and struggled to remember how Fei Long had held his sleeves when he did it. Asami chuckled at his attempt and then forced his chin up again, capturing clear blue eyes with his own amber gold. It was like fire gazing into water and though Akihito didn't know it yet, and wouldn't understand it for many years to come, he had already conquered the flame.

“You hold you head high my beautiful flying tiger and carry yourself with pride. You are a maiko now.”

He brushed a kiss across the boy’s smooth cheek and the wet warmth lingered on his cool skin. Akihito’s heart was pounding so hard in his chest he thought the man might hear it, “Yes Asami-sama.”

He pressed a sweet candy into Akihito’s palm and then bid him farewell, “I will visit you just as often as I can little one. Work hard, be good, for me.”

All Akihito could do was nod as he watched him go, the gates shut behind him and the carriage drove away. The boy’s fingers curled around the candy and he tucked it inside the handkerchief in his pocket, running his thumbs over the letters. ‘For me,’ the words the Chairman had said echoed in Akihito’s mind. “For you,” he whispered to himself. When he made tea, when he poured sake, when he danced, when he sang, it would be for Asami. It would be for the man who had shown him such kindness and saw value in him when no one else did. His eyes fluttered closed with the depth of his emotions, but when they opened again, they were clear.

The child turned to face the okiya, his head back, his shoulders squared and his eyes filled with determination. He already looked older and more mature than when he had arrived.

Fei Long frowned at him, “I am going to be a better geisha than you and then Asami-sama is going to be MY danna.”

Akihito didn’t know what a danna was but he sure as heck wasn’t going to let Asami be Fei Long’s _anything_. He stomped his foot angrily, “No, I’m going to be the best geisha and Asami-sama is going to be MY danna!”

Long-mu interrupted the burgeoning argument by tucking both boys into his side and guiding them back into the okiya, “I think its a bit early to be competing over dannas my little ones, how about a dance lesson instead?”

Fei Long nodded, but his emerald eyes shot daggers at Akihito. Akihito stuck his pink tongue out at him. He would be the best geisha he could possibly be, and no matter what Fei Long said, one day, he would leave through those gates at the Chairman’s side.

Both boys were right about one thing and wrong about the other.

Fei Long would go on the be the most celebrated geisha of his time. He and Akihito would only ever truly be rivals in Fei Long’s own mind, and only in the way the sun and the moon are rivals. His extraordinary beauty and grace would make him unforgettable and gain him a world-wide acclaim. He would be courted by powerful men from all over the world; princes and kings and leaders of state. His sensual skills would be whispered about in the halls of both brothels and palaces alike. Many years after his death, a book would be written about his life that would later be turned into a movie and then he would become the most famous geisha in history. In his later years, Fei Long would forget all about their supposed rivalry and refer to Akihito only as the truest friend he ever had.

Except for that, no one would ever know Takaba Akihito’s name. He would be but a footnote in history and wholly forgettable as a geisha. He could count his clients by raising a single slender finger. He would never dance for the emperor and the only ones who would ever really appreciate his singing voice were the small children he cradled to his breast. He would never lay with kings and would only ever be courted by one man; his lifelong patron and the man who would eventually, after the war, become his husband. As a geisha, he would be a complete and total failure, except that..... out of all the geishas that have ever lived, Takaba Akihito would be, by far, the most loved.

To the day he died, long after his mind had faded, if you asked him when or where he was born, he would recount to you with perfect clarity that cold winter day in 1914 when he beaned his sister’s client over the head with a broom made of thistles and Asami called him his ‘little flying tiger’ for the very first time.

Akihito’s cloudy blue eyes would glow with a radiance of the past as he would declare, “It wasn’t the day I was born, but it was the day my life began.”

-

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